Quantum Leap
by lanie-love09
Summary: I wanted to write an alternative to what happens in the comic and what will probably happen by the end of season 6. Rick realizes what's been missing in his hope for a new world and yet she's been by his side since the moment they met.
1. Chapter 1

Michonne decides to stop by Rick's to see how Carl's feeling now that he's home. She tried to stop by everyday however; now that she'd moved in to her own house she felt awkward stopping by all the time to visit Rick, Carl and Judith.

So now she just tries to stop by when she knew Rick wouldn't be there.

Carl's staring out the living room window when he sees Michonne making her way towards the front door.

He sighs somewhat, then walks over and opens the door.

"Hey Carl, what's up how are you feeling" she asks while removing her sword placing it by the door.

He turns around and walks back over to the couch to sit down; he shrugs his shoulders, "Alright I guess."

She closes the door behind her then stares at him with concern, "What's the matter?"

"I don't know…its nothing."

Michonne walks over and sits down next to him, "Is it the wound?"

He turns and looks at her incredulously, "No."

She looks over her shoulder and watches as the people walk about the streets, "Why don't you take Judith outside for a walk when she wakes up. Get some fresh air."

He angrily stands up, "Because I don't want to scare anybody."

Innocently she asks, "Why would you scare anybody".

Carl lifts the bandage off his eye, "Because I look deformed. I look like the god damn, Gov…"

"Uh-uh, don't even say it. You don't look nothing like him because you are nothing like him", she walks over and places both hands on his shoulders, "Look at me Carl."

When he looks in to her eyes she sees his eye begin to water making her eyes water just as fast.

"Carl, I know you probably feel that this is the worst possible thing to happen to you but, your alive. You're here with all of your mind, you're here with your Dad and Judith…" she pulls Carl in close hugging him tightly, "This life doesn't allow you to focus on what you don't have. It only gives you enough time to be grateful for the things that you do have."

He wraps his arms around Michonne and silently sobs in to her shoulder, "I'll have to learn to shoot all over again, I'll never be able to drive. I don't have anything to look forward to like I did before the shooting."

Michonne starts softly rub the young boys head then place a kiss full of running tears on top of his head then sniffles, "I promise if your Dad doesn't make sure to reteach all the things you did before I'll do it", she pulls him away and places both hands around his face, "…O.k.? Now promise me, every time you start to feel this way you stop immediately and count off 10 things that you are happy to have right in that moment. Promise?"

Carl uses his sleeve to wipe his nose and eyes, "I promise…in fact I just counted one of those things standing in front of me."

The two embrace once more, "Michonne why can't you come back and live here with us. I feel better when you're around all the time?"

"Carl you father needs one on one time with his kids; so that he's thankful that the three of you made it to Alexandria together. So he always knows the importance of keeping this place safe for you and your sister".

She slowly pulls him away and grabs one of Judith's folded bibs on the coffee table to wipe her eyes and nose of tears, "Besides, I seriously doubt he wants me hanging around here…"

Rick and Glenn suddenly walk in the front door before Michonne can finish her sentence, "Hey? Everything alright" Rick asks.

"Yep, I was just coming by to see how Carl was doing. I haven't had much time since I switched shift with Sasha for the past couple of days", she answers.

Rick looks down at Carl oddly then back at Michonne, "Oh".

Rick and Glenn head towards the garage. As an afterthought he asks, "Michonne could you help Spencer and Daryl get rid of some walkers by the hole in the wall?"

Michonne quickly answers, "Sure", then grabs her sword. She smiles at Carl, "I'll see you later."

* * *

"Ever since that thing that happened with Nicholas, Maggie insists that she go on runs with me. Even though Denise told her that she can't do any heavy lifting anymore she still wants to make sure she's always there to have my back" Glenn explains while helping Rick look for an extra chainsaw somewhere in the garage.

Rick laughs at Glenn's domestic dilemma, "Yeah, well that's how married life is. That's how it's supposed to be. Husband and wife should always have one another's back", he locates the chainsaw, "Got it. I wish I had someone like that, someone to always be there to have my back".

As the two of them head towards the garage door; Glenn stops abruptly and looks at Rick absurdly, "What are you talking about Rick, you do, when all those walkers got in and you went on that rampage…Michonne was the first person out there helping you. You not gonna sit here and tell me that you never noticed that Michonne's always had your back are you?"


	2. Chapter 2: Seasons Change

_**Hi everyone,**_

 _ **I know I originally started this thinking that they wouldn't give us Richonne until low and behold they did. So these chapters are taking place prior to the moment of that lovely Richonne first kiss.**_

 _ **Lanie**_

It's been 4 weeks since the brutal attack of the wolves and the horde of walkers; after having so many Alexandrians perish from the back to back attacks; Michonne along with the others from Rick's group, couldn't find a valid reason for all of them to remain bunch together in two houses. So Carol and Daryl remained next door, Tara moved in with Denise, Rosita and Abe found a house while Sasha opted to take the house closes to the new guard tower. And Morgan and Eugene moved in to the remaining vacant houses separately.

* * *

Rick and Glenn are making their way back towards the hole in the wall when they spot Michonne and Spencer and Morgan putting down a dozen or more of walkers.

He freezes in place without warning to stare at Michonne; a surge of warm emotions floods his chest and stomach.

The last time he felt this way was when he first found Lori and Carl after waking from the coma.

Michonne was the best friend that he once had in Shane only better; she could always make him smile or laugh when he needed it most. Whenever he thought of a good idea or needed help fleshing out a plan or if he found something that was just funny; the first person or the only person he wanted to tell was her.

"Rick, Rick!" Glenn yells, "You good?"

He blinks his eye a couple of times and snaps back to reality, "Yeah, yeah let's get these posts in place before it gets dark."

* * *

Michonne starts making her way back home through the hole in the fence.

Rick and Aaron are placing a large tree trunk in the ground to be used as a post when Michonne passes them by.

Her body language spoke as though she were tired Rick notices; her shoulders seemed to hang low and conquered.

After the posts are set in place Ricks stands up, "O.k. let's call it a day for now. We have people scheduled for guard duty right?"

Glenn grabs his gun holster from the ground, "Yeah, Sasha supposed to be in the guard post tonight and we have a couple of people that are gonna patrol the gap until morning."

"Alright, we'll pick this back up then".

Rick says his goodbyes to everyone then calls out, "Michonne", and jogs over to her.

She turns around a little puzzled.

He slows down as Alexandrians walk by, "Hey, Is everything alright with Carl. It felt like I walked in on something."

She smiles, "It's nothing. He was just feeling a little bit down about the accident. He's…not sure you know…how he's gonna be able to help out now with his injury. I talked to him so I hopefully he can move past what he's feeling right now."

"I see…well thank you for talking to him. "What about you, are you…you know o.k.? It looked like you were upset too."

"No, I'm fine…I get choked up when Carl feeling upset…this world is pretty hard for someone grown. Can't imagine what it must be like for a teenager…you know."

"Yeah…yeah", Rick stands there staring at Michonne but, he stares at her differently than he has in the past. He gaze come with a cocky grin, "So…Carol made a casserole for us and there's more than enough for Me, Carl and Judith."

She's caught off guard by Rick's invitation but shyly smiles none the less; "Officer Grimes are you asking me out on a date?"

Her smiles were always contagious and for Rick this one was no different, so he smiles and chortles, "Maybe".

Michonne looks around as the last of the Alexandrians past them by; she continues her grin however she tiredly removes her katana from her shoulders, "Thanks but…" she stares at sun setting in the reflection of his eyes, "I'm really beat so I'm just gonna go in the house, read a book and fall asleep."

He relents; slowly nodding his head and staring at his boots, "Well…thanks for talking to Carl."

For a split second; she detects a hint of disappointment in his response, but she started noticing a few weeks back that Rick could never look her straight in the eyes when thanking her.

A small "tick" she began noticing about him as the days in Alexandria became slower and less threatening.

She modestly smiles while placing a light tap on his arm, "It was my pleasure", turns around and walks home.

Rick stands in the middle of the road watching as she disappears up block and in to the house then he slowly starts his short walk home.

Before the end of the world Rick never really paid any attention to the sky; it wasn't until he became a farmer at the prison that he started to notice that the best way to tell the seasons were changing was by the colors in sunrise and sunsets.

This sunset had temperate colors like peach and orange; colors that always indicate that autumn has arrived.

Rick beams at the fact that he's managed to make it to another fall season with both his children in tact…for the most part; but he knew there was one person missing and he had no interest in see them in passing only.

"I'll just ask her over to dinner every day until she says, "Yes."


	3. Chapter 3: I wanna be where you are

_**This chapter came to mind while listening to The Jacksons Five "I wanna be where you are" /z48J73gxtdI**_

 _ **Lanie**_

Rick sits down at the dining room table with Judith in his lap; Carl walks over to the dining room with two plates of Carol's casserole in his hand then sets one plate in front of his father and the other by his seat.

It's hard for Rick to enjoy being in the presence of his children with Glenn's statement from earlier constantly playing in his head.

So he tries distracting himself, "So…everything go alright today?".

Carl refuses to lift his eyes from his plate, "Same as always, you?"

"Yeah, same as yesterday and the day before", Rick snickers when he scoops a fork full of casserole in his mouth, "I never thought we'd ever get to a time like this, where we talk about how boring our day was.

Carl looks up at his Dad and smiles softly and nods in agreement pushing his pasta around his plate.

Sadly, the joke's lost on Carl; he's witnessed entirely too much in his young life. He had very little memory of what life was like before the outbreak.

He drops his fork on to his plate, "Dad, why can't Michonne live here with us?"

Rick opens his eyes wide; stunned by the his question he reply's "Well…after everything happened more houses became available…", he shrugs, "…so I suppose she wanted her own place".

He deposits a fork full of casserole in to Judith's mouth hoping to avoid eye contact with his son.

"Well, why didn't you ask her to stay then?" Carl asks.

"I…guess…I just thought she wanted to move out", he explains.

Carl haplessly inspects his plate and begins eating again, "You should've asked her to stay. She thinks you wanted her to move out so you could have time alone with us…but…" he can't put in to words how he feels so he blurts out, "…she's one of us Dad, she's supposed to live with us…under the same roof.

Judith starts grabbing at Rick's plate placing pieces of pasta in her mouth; he grins at her then over at Michonne's supporter with approval, "Well, I guess I'll have to ask her to come home then".

* * *

After checking in on Carl and Judith, making sure they're sleep; Rick hops in a luke warm shower before going to bed.

He lies down on the bed to go to sleep but he finds himself staring at the ceiling listening to the noise from in and outside the house.

If those were the only noises preventing him from falling asleep he'd be fine but they weren't. Again, Glenn's voice kept playing in his head however; this time it was accompanied by constant replays of all the times Michonne had been there for the group, Carl, Judith and him.

The harder he tried to stop the replay, the more instances of Michonne being there for him in good times and bad continued to pop in to his head.

He suddenly began to worry about the wall and whether or not Michonne was safe living alone.

Straight away, he gets dressed to patrol the perimeter.

* * *

The entire community is dark with the exception of a few solar powered street lamps.

Rick begins his sweep at the east end of Alexandria, the farthest end away from the front gate and in the same vicinity of Michonne's house.

The night air was much chillier than the evening one, it was a crisp cold air that Rick hadn't really experienced before…being a Georgia man.

He gazes at how beautiful the night sky is with its sprinkling of stars that seemed to reach as far as his eye could see.

While staring in to the sky, Rick begins to turn up the collar on his jacket to shield his neck from the autumn breeze.

Once again he's reminded of how he took nights like these for granted before the outbreak.

Scarcely remembering what life used to be like before having to worry about a walker or a human taking your life just for the sake of their survival.

His gaze at the night skies are interrupted by the sound of a wavering metal sheet.

Rick quickly pulls out his python and flashlight.

As he slowly begins to approach the wall where the noise is coming from; he instantly turns on his flashlight and aims his gun, "Stop! Don't move!"

The sound of the metal sheet wavering stops abruptly.

"Rick?"

Michonne pushes and pushes at the out of place sheet metal trying to maneuver it back in to place, "What are you doing out here", she huffs.

"Michonne", Rick quietly yells, "What the hell are you doing out here?"

She finally pushes the sheet metal back in to place and in line with the rest of the wall, "While I was patrolling the perimeter last night I saw this break in the fence. I was hoping that someone besides me would see it and take care of it", she grabs her sword from the other panel and places it on her shoulder and begins walking closer to him, "…but I guess nobody bothers to check for weaknesses."

Rick laughs a little at her due diligence, "I had no idea that you were getting up to patrol at night."

"Well, as much as I want to get a good eight hours the most that I've been able to get is about four to five", she laughs.

"I know the feeling", he smiles.

Michonne reaches her hand up to her eyes, "Could you turn off that flashlight?"

Rick forgets that he still has the flashlight on and fumbles to turn it off, "Oh, sorry."

"What are you doing out here", she asks.

"I couldn't sleep either so I thought I'd make myself useful."

* * *

Rick and Michonne begin walking around the inside perimeter of the community in silence.

They both want to say something but they walk without saying a word.

"I don't normally see you out here this time of night, is everything alright with Carl and Judith", she asks.

"Yeah, they're good."

They finish walking the perimeter in tandem and in silence.

"Well everything seems to be alright, what do you think?" Rick asks as they turn on to Michonne's block.

She smiles, "Yeah, I think I can sleep for four hours peacefully."

The two chuckle at her answer.

"Would it be alright if I walk you home", he asks.

"Yeah…", she continues to walk, "…but how will I know that you've gotten home alright", she teases.

Michonne snickers to herself at her comment until she notices that Rick has stopped walking with her. She turns around smiling curiously, "Rick come on…you know I'm only kidding?"

Rick's heart starts to beat fast but he's not sure why.

The only thing that's working in his mind right now was how to get Michonne to move back with him and the kids.

"I'll tell you how", he walks over to her.

She displays a confused smile, "How?"

"You should come back and live with us, It feels weird with you not being there with us.

After the prison; it was always either the three of us or the four of us, sleeping under the same vacant house, empty store, barn…or the sky. I don't see why that has to stop because there's available housing."

Michonne happily stunned by Rick's request, she did miss hanging out with them.

Hanging out with Carl and Judith made her fight to make sure Alexandria survived, all he more worthwhile.

She stood there in silence for a few seconds trying to come up with a reason to say no…but, the first thing she says is, "o.k.".


	4. Chapter 4: Girl Talk

Michonne didn't waste a minute gathering what little items she had, Rick was more than happy to help as he waits for her downstairs.

A few minutes later, she comes down the steps with two large gym bags and her katana.

Rick looks at the bags astonished by how much someone could acquire in the span of six to eight weeks.

She stops in the middle of the steps and stares at the look on Rick's face.

He smirks and turns away from her.

"What? She asks.

He starts grinning and laughing while shaking his head, "Nothing."

She finally makes her way to the bottom floor and looks at Rick who's trying to control his laughter. She waits until his amusement is under control.

She starts grinning because he's trying to hold in his laughter, "Come on let's go."

He extends his hand laughing, "Alright give me one."

"No I can-"

Rick cuts her off abruptly, "No give me one."

Michonne concedes knowingly and gives him one of the gym bags to carry.

* * *

Michonne laughs while walking home with Rick, "…Oh, come on. You mean to tell me there's no creature comforts that you've enjoy being here?"

Rick reluctantly says, "Well…I do enjoy shampooing my hair."

She erupts with laughter at Rick's secret pleasure, "No, Rick Grimes has a thing about his hair?"

"Yeah, all that splattered brains, blood and skin clumps the strands together and it feels clumpy" he laughs.

She stops in the middle of the road to gain her composure.

Rick turns around and asks, "Well, what's yours? What's your creature comfort?"

Michonne quickly stops laughing and starts walking past him.

He quickly catches up with her and steps in her path, "Wait a minute, I told you mine you tell me yours."

She drops her shoulders in defeat, "Toothpaste."

"What? You laughed so hard at mine and yours is toothpaste?" Rick starts laughing and waving his hand behind him, "Nope, yours is just as weird as mine."

"I don't like all that build up on my teeth. It feels nasty", she explains walking to catch up with him.

* * *

Rick leads Michonne to her old bedroom located at the end of the hall, right next to Carl and Judith's room.

"Your room, exactly the way you left it", he says while opening the door to the room she slept in when they first came to Alexandria.

She walks inside behind Rick with her gym bag then sits it down on the floor next to her bed.

She smiles plopping down on the mattress then over at Rick.

Unable to control his smile, Rick walks toward the bedroom door, "I'll see you in the morning."

* * *

Four hours later,

Michonne starts to stir in her sleep, until suddenly she opens her eyes wide and starts to feel a subtle sensation come over her body.

She remembers that she was back with Rick, Carl and Judith, where she's wanted to be since the moment she moved out.

Climbing out of bed to grab her bath robe, Michonne glances out the window to see if its time.

After determining that it was indeed time, she left her bedroom and open the door to Carl and Judith's bedroom.

No sooner than 5 seconds from opening the door; Michonne sees her "Judy Girl" sitting up in her crib playing around with her red plastic cups.

The joy on Michonne's face was catching as Judith heard the sound of her soft voice, "Hey Judy Girl."

Judith ignores the company of her red plastic cups and whimpers for Michonne while holding out her arms.

Carl opens his eyes at the sound of Judith's whimper and sees Michonne's bath robe reaching in to the crib.

"Michonne…is that you?"

She brings Judith in to her arms, "Yep, it's me", she whispers turning to face him.

"Good", he smiles then turns the opposite way to go back to sleep.

* * *

The alarm clock goes off in Rick's bedroom, it's an hour before sunrise, the same time that Judith wakes up.

He sits up on the edge of the bed for a minute then remembers that Michonne moved back and he didn't want Judith to wake her.

So he grabs a clean t-shirt out of the drawer walks over and opens the door.

As his about to step in to the hallway, he sees Michonne in her lavender bath robe carrying Judith towards the stairs.

He rubs his eyes.

"So, Judy Girl, I missed our mornings so much. We have so much girl talk to catch up on." She whispers to Judith.

A sensation of ease over comes Rick as he closes the door smiling before going back to bed.

The last thing he wants to do is interrupt Michonne and his Judy Girl's girl talk.

 **Thanks for reading,**

 **Lanie Love**


End file.
